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Happy 10th Birthday Mamma Mia

posted by Women & Hollywood
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 9:54pm CDT

L-R: Writer Catherine Johnson, Director Phyllida Lloyd, Producer Judy Craymer

celebrated its 10th anniversary in London this week. What I love about this show is that the same women who worked on the show did the film and that they really respect and seem to genuinely care for each other. It doesn’t hurt that they’ve all become quite rich.

While we all might not have know about these women until the film last summer, I can guarantee that we will be hearing more from them. Here’s what they are up to:

51 years old writer Catherine Johnson has returned to the theatre, with a new play Suspension in her hometown theatre Bristol’s Old Vic. The play is “about a girl who is about to get married wondering if her special day can possibly be complete without the presence of her father, with whom she has never had any contact.” (Sound a little familiar?)

Here’s what she says about the film expereince:

Even now, she says she would never have been the first choice to write the screenplay if her contract had not demanded that she get a shot at it, and that she would almost certainly have been sacked if producer Judy Craymer hadn’t stood by her. Right to the bitter end, it was a fight with the studio to defend her and Craymer’s vision of a movie about “real older women who are overweight, over-stressed, drunk and needing each other”. She fought hard for the movie’s ending, in which all the cast return for one last exuberant number. The studio felt this was “cheesy wotsits with knobs on” that would only be seen by cleaners sweeping up popcorn. How wrong they were.

Ten years ago producer Judy Cramyer didn’t have enough money to get her car fixed and had to sell her apartment to finance the show, but now everything is different. Thanks to the millions of people who have seen the musical and film she put together (which everyone thought would be a flop) she never has to work again. That doesn’t mean she won’t.

Respected theatre and opera director Phyllida Lloyd has Mary Stuart starring Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter in previews on Broadway now. Here’s the description:

Seduction, greed and deception lie at the heart of the bitter rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots (Janet McTeer) and her cousin, Elizabeth I (Harriet Walter) of England. After being implicated in her husband’s murder, Mary turns to Elizabeth for help but finds her cousin distrustful of her motives. Thus begins a bloody feud that will threaten not just their family bond, but the crown of England… MARY STUART tells the story of two iconic women whose lust for power reveals one of the most thrilling displays of passion and politics the world has ever seen.

I’m seeing it next week. Can’t wait.

Here I go again (The Guardian)

How Mamma Mia’s Judy Craymer became the £90m dancing queen (Daily Mail)